Litwit Lounge discussion

Here's our annual thread where we invite you to look back on the year just past, and single out a few of your top reads for special mention. (Of course, this year still has about a week to go; but for myself, I won't be finishing any more books this year, so I'm ready to post!) Personally, I usually try to pick my top five, which is sometimes a challenge. But this year, six reads stood out in a class by themselves; so I'm going to list all six --and moreover, I'm listing them in alphabetical order, because it's impossible to rank them! They are:

Bleak House by Charles Dickens; O Pioneers! by Willa Cather; Precious Bane by Mary Webb; Quo Vadis by Henryk Sienkiewicz; A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry; and Stars Through the Clouds: The Collected Poetry of Donald T. Williams. Last year, most of the books I picked were rereads; but the ones listed this time were all new to me; and I believe this is the first year that either a play or a poetry collection made the list!

6 of mine, alphabetically, though *2 were solid favourites beforehand!

1. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (a composite story, plus I reviewed several of these stories individually. Some were familiar, so it was good to research their origins and appreciate what Isaac Asimov had created in his 3 Laws of Robotics. Current Sci-Fi writers owe him a lot!)

2. Kindred by Octavia E. Butler (my first by this author. Readable and affecting. I look forward to more.)

3. *Bleak House by Charles Dickens

4. Aku-Aku: The Secret of Easter Island by Thor Heyerdahl (contentious, but I went on to read a later book by him, and in my view his views still hold up and have not been superseded)

5. *Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy

6. Emil and the Detectives by Erich Kästner (hilariously funny! The favourite of 2 German GR friends who don't know each other. One brought up in the West, one in the East. Did I ever read this as a child, I wonder.)

"Honorable mentions" for enjoyment also to essayist George Orwell and short story writers Oliver Onions, M.R. James, E. Nesbit and Bram Stoker (whose Dracula I also read this year in real time.)

Here are some of my 2022 favorites, excluding rereads:

* Tess of the D’Urbervilles by Thomas Hardy
* The Old Man and the Sea by Ernest Hemingway
* Gentlemen Prefer Blondes by Anita Loos
* Midnight's Children by Salman Rushdie
* Fathers and Sons by Ivan Turgenev

Honorable mentions include: A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger, the story Roman Fever by Edith Wharton, Century Rain by Alastair Reynolds, Rusty Puppy by Joe R. Lansdale. I could keep going. It was hard to choose!

I felt that too Jennifer! I wanted to go on ...

Bionic Jean wrote: "6 of mine, alphabetically, though *2 were solid favourites beforehand!

1. I, Robot by Isaac Asimov (a composite story, plus I reviewed several of these stories individu..."

Jean, I just saw this and thought of you! Philip Pullman is also a fan of Emil and the Detectives!

https://www.theguardian.com/books/202...

I just highlighted Middlemarch for a 2023 read, and made a note that it may be time to reread "Howl." :-)

Oh yes! He has good taste 😄

I've just finished another book which should go in my top 5 or 6 ... but since I won't have finished the review until next week it can go in next year's.

It's time to archive this thread, but the one for 2023 is already up!